escaping the goolag

Tue - 08/29 /2017

Google has been getting some bad press. They deserve it. And more.

Most everyone’s heard about the Google programmer who naively trusted his company’s motto, “Don’t be evil.” But then his 10-page memo critiquing the company’s diversity policy which mandates “Unconscious Bias” training, began circulating beyond Google. James Damore abruptly discovered the most evil thing any Googler can do (that’s really how they identify their employees) is to criticize the mother-ship.

Mr Damore was fired. Few events could have brought more exposure to Google’s cult-like culture. And yet …

Because we get so many supposedly free services many of us refuse to entertain the possibility that Google does evil. Then there were all those journalists who hastily assured us the science of the Google memo was all wrong. But plenty of real scientists agree with Mr Damore. Dr. Lee Jussim of Rutgers U. claims, “The author of the Google essay on issues related to diversity gets nearly all of the science and its implications exactly right.”

According to Mr Damore, “Google is a particularly intense echo chamber because it’s in the middle of Silicon Valley and is so life-encompassing. Some employees even live on campus. For many, including myself, working at Google is a major part of their identity. It’s like a cult with its own leaders and saints.” A Google manager told the Wall Street Journal, “The company has made it explicitly clear that any view not left-of-center is not welcome.” Google CEO Pichai exercised a level of Newspeak that’d make George Orwell shudder. Immediately after firing Mr Damore he wrote, “People must feel free to express dissent.”

Did you know Google owned YouTube took down PragerU videos addressing campus diversity and the Iraq war? YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki explained they were “politically objectionable.”

Do you know Google is now blocking the website CubaDecide.com? (Update: After Wall Street Journal reported Google blocking, CubaDecide.org is viewable in America. Unknown what is still being blocked in Cuba.) It was developed in Cuba by Cubans calling for a national plebiscite asking if Cubans want free elections and free speech. Blocking this non-profit website results from a December 2016 deal Google struck with Etecsa, the Castro regime’s monopoly telecom company.

In a free country a company ought to be free to be what they choose to be. But I wonder why so many of us choose not to see what Google has become. ~